Purpose: To review research designs for rehabilitation.
Summary of key points: Single-case, observational, and qualitative designs are highlighted in terms of recent advances and ability to answer important scientific questions about rehabilitation.
Statement of conclusions: Single-case, observational, and qualitative designs can be conducted in a systematic and rigorous manner that provides important information that cannot be acquired using more common designs, such as randomized controlled trials. These less commonly used designs may be more feasible and effective in answering many research questions in the field of rehabilitation.
Recommendations for clinical practice: Researchers should consider these designs when selecting the optimal design to answer their research questions. We should improve education about the advantages and disadvantages of existing research designs to enable more critical analysis of the scientific literature we read and review to avoid undervaluing studies not within more commonly used categories.